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50 B2B Social Media Facts Marketers Need to Know

Posted by Jessica Kumor on March 31, 2017

Think social media is just for B2C brands? Think again.

As many B2B companies continue to integrate social media channels into their overall marketing efforts, social media has gotten a bad rap as a “throw-away” network without a chance for positive ROI.

B2B social media doesn’t need to be boring, inconsistent, distant or isolated from the rest of your sales and marketing efforts. It can be profitable, measurable and scalable.

As more B2B businesses become active and focused on growth through social media, your business can’t afford to lag in both its adoption and effective use.

Not convinced that social media is right for your B2B business? We’ve gathered 50 social media facts just for B2B marketers that might make you reconsider how you use (or plan to use) social media in your own sales and marketing.   

 

50 B2B Social Media Facts for Marketers:

 

Social Media Presence
  1. 93% of B2B marketers use social media (other than blogs), making it the most common B2B marketing tactic. (Content Marketing Institute, 2016)
  2. More than 76% of all B2B marketers use at least one of the “top three” social media sites (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) to distribute content. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
  3. The average B2B company uses 6 social media networks (Content Marketing Institute, 2016)
  4. The average social media user has 5+ accounts. (Link Humans, 2015)
  5. B2B marketers are much more likely to use blogging (78%) as the preferred type of content in social media marketing compared to B2C marketers (6%). (Social Media Examiner, 2016)
  6. There are more mobile phones in the world than toothbrushes, with 2.08 billion active social media accounts worldwide. (Link Humans, 2015)
  7. 56% of social marketers are focused on engagement metrics, primarily because 61.1% feel that measuring ROI is a top challenge. (Simply Measured, 2016)
  8. While both B2B and B2C marketers are interested in learning about live video and podcasting options, B2B marketers are much more likely to increase their podcasting activity (30%) than B2C marketers (23%). (Social Media Examiner, 2016)

 

LinkedIn

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

When was the last time your company ranked at the bottom of anything? If you’re not using LinkedIn to distribute engaging, educational content, you’re among only 11% of B2B businesses in the United States that don’t have a LinkedIn presence. As a network of more than 350 million business professionals, LinkedIn is an indispensable platform to promote products and services, build credibility and interact with other B2B decision makers.

  1. 89% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content, which makes it the most used B2B social media platform. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
  2. 41% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the most important social network they use — and 81% say they use it to help launch new products. (Webbiquity, 2016)
  3. Need to reach decision makers? Need to reach people who have money? A full 50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn to make purchasing decisions — and 44% of users make more than $75,000. More importantly, 76% prefer to use recommendations from their professional network, making it the perfect network for social selling. (Hootsuite, 2016)
  4. LinkedIn is the only major social media platform for which usage rates are higher among 30- to 49-year-olds than among 18- to 29-year-olds. (HubSpot, 2016)
  5. Even though most B2B marketers use LinkedIn, only 28% of B2B companies use LinkedIn ads, which is still more than double that of their B2C counterparts (11%). (Social Media Examiner, 2016)
  6. 40% of B2B marketers who republish content from their blog are more likely to republish that content on LinkedIn. (Social Media Examiner, 2016)

 

Twitter

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

Many B2B businesses are skeptical when it comes to using Twitter as a worthwhile marketing tool. But Twitter isn’t just for teens or consumer brands. It’s an excellent addition to your marketing mix if you’re trying to position your company as a thought leader, engage your audience, drive traffic or give your brand some personality.

  1. As of February 2017, Twitter has more than 319 million average monthly active users and 1.3 billion registered users. Of those, 100 million log in and use Twitter daily, with 500 million Tweets sent each day (that’s 6,000 every second). (DMR, 2017)
  2. Have an international audience? Twitter has nearly 4X as many international users as in the United States. (HubSpot, 2016)
  3. Over the last three years, there has been a 2.5x increase in customer service conversations on Twitter. Companies that use Twitter for customer service see a 19% lift in customer satisfaction. (Brandwatch Blog, 2016)
  4. More importantly, 76% of followers are more likely to recommend a brand after receiving friendly customer service. (Brandwatch Blog, 2016)
  5. Tweets with images receive 18% more click-throughs, 89% more likes and 150% more retweets. (Brandwatch Blog, 2016)
  6. Does your company have multiple audiences or niches for your product or service? About 63% of brands worldwide have multiple Twitter accounts — mainly to cover different departments, tailored services and to provide specialized customer service. (GrowthHackers, 2015)
  7. Large Summary Cards (140 characters plus a large picture with short description) that give your reader a preview of the content before clicking through to an article or website, generate 3X more interactions than a summary or image only. (BuzzSumo, 2015)

 

Facebook

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

Even though LinkedIn and Twitter rank ahead of Facebook as the B2B social media platforms of choice today, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with potential customers through Facebook. For example, it is a great tool to showcase your company culture for potential customers or future employees.

 As Facebook continues to evolve with enhancements such as Messenger, Facebook Live, Pages, Groups and Events, it will become an increasingly important tool for B2B marketers to understand and build into their social strategy. 

  1. 73% of people say they use Facebook for professional purposes. (HubSpot, 2016)
  2. The “like” button is clicked 3 million times every minute on Facebook. (Link Humans, 2015)
  3. Facebook continues to have the most engaged users. 70% of all Facebook users log on daily, including 43% who check in several times a day. (HubSpot, 2016)
  4. 87% of all Facebook users access the network via mobile devices. (The Next Web, 2017)
  5. Content is still king. Facebook sends 82% of social media traffic to longer stories and 84% of social traffic to shorter news articles. (HubSpot, 2016)
  6. In the past two years, content consumption on Facebook has increased 57%, with 76% of all people using their feed to find interesting content. (HubSpot, 2016)
  7. Facebook is quickly becoming a serious competitor for YouTube for video viewing; 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook (TechCrunch, 2016)
  8. Even though 71% of all Internet users are on Facebook, including more than half of all online adults 65+, as well as 84% of B2B companies — not one CEO of the 50 largest global companies is active on Facebook. (Webbiquity, 2016)
  9. With more than 2.5 million advertisers, 50 million small businesses on Pages and over 1 billion monthly users on Groups, as well as enhancements to Messenger, Facebook has created new ways for people to communicate, interact with and complain to businesses. (TechCrunch, 2016)
  10. Facebook posts with images see 2.3x more engagement than those without images. (BuzzSumo, 2015)

 

YouTube

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of video? B2B marketers leverage YouTube not only for education and engagement, but to create brand experiences that tap into human emotion and influence. 

  1. YouTube is big. With more than 1 billion active users, it is the biggest online video destination on the Internet, where users can watch 46,000 years’ worth of content annually. (Venture Beat, 2016)
  2. 70% of B2B marketers are using video content. (LinkedIn, 2015)
  3. As many as 74% of B2B marketers use YouTube to host video content. (Content Marketing Institute, 2016)
  4. YouTube is commonly used by larger, technical businesses. The top 10 B2B brands using YouTube are (in order ranking): Google, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Salesforce, Adobe, Oracle, HP, HubSpot and Maersk. (Pepper Virtual Assistants, 2016)
  5. YouTube is the top content distribution channel that marketers say they will be adding to their marketing mix in the next year. (HubSpot, 2016)

 

Instagram

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

It’s hard to believe that this social media newcomer is already seven years old. Even though Instagram started as a simple photo-sharing app, today it is one of the most successful apps in the world. While B2C marketers are more likely to use Instagram than B2B marketers, the recent acquisition of Instagram by Facebook signals a huge shift in how it will eventually come to be used by all brands, which means that B2B marketers shouldn’t neglect some key Instagram social media facts and statistics. 

  1. Instagram is the fastest-growing major social network, yet it’s being used by only 26% of B2B marketers. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
  2. Instagram now has more than 500 million active monthly users — with over 40 billion shared photos (that’s an average of 95 million photos and videos per day!). (Hootsuite Blog, 2016)
  3. After looking at an Instagram advertising post, 75% of users take an action (such as visiting a website). (Hootsuite Blog, 2016)
  4. Instagram is used by 48.8% of all brands — a number that is expected to rise to 70.7% by 2017. Those numbers are projected to edge out Twitter brand usage. (Hootsuite Blog, 2016)
  5. As of June 2016, 80% of all Instagram users come from countries outside of the United States, representing $1.53 billion in global mobile ad revenue for Instagram. By 2017, Instagram’s global ad revenues are expected to reach $2.81 billion. (Instagram, 2016)
  6. Posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without. And just as importantly, 70% of the most-used hashtags are branded (#BMW and #MercedesBenz were tops). (Simply Measured, 2015)
  7. Is your business focused on products/services for women? A 2015 Pew Research study of U.S. residents found that more women use Instagram than men. The study showed that 31% of women and 24% of men regularly use Instagram to like, share and post. (Pew Research, 2015)
  8. 55% of all online 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. are using Instagram. The next largest user age demographic is 30- to 49-year-olds at 28%, followed by 50- to 64-year-olds at 11%. (Pew Research, 2015)
  9. Interestingly, the same study found that 32% of online adults who live in urban areas use Instagram. In the suburbs, that number drops down to 28%, while rural/country areas have only 18% Instagram users. (Pew Research, 2015)

 

SlideShare

50 B2B SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS MARKETERS NEED TO KNOW

With a global hub containing more than 18 million presentations, infographics, videos and documents, SlideShare could be considered the “sleeper” of B2B social media marketing. SlideShare is an ideal platform for B2B companies that create valuable, shareable, high-quality content. Yet, despite its many opportunities, many marketers have not yet tapped its full potential. 

  1. According to LinkedIn (which acquired SlideShare in 2012), SlideShare is used by more than 70 million professionals as a tool to learn about any topic quickly, directly from subject matter experts. (SlideShare, 2017)
  2. SlideShare contains more than 18 million uploads in 40 content categories and is one of the top 100 most visited websites in the world. (SlideShare, 2017)
  3. While only 26% of B2B marketers use SlideShare, 40% find it to be an effective tool for B2B marketing content distribution. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017)
  4. Your presentations could give your brand an SEO advantage. Google indexes every presentation on the platform, which means that SlideShare gets more than 80% of its traffic through organic search. (LinkedIn, 2016)
  5. You can capture leads through a SlideShare presentation by embedding a lead form into an existing presentation or including one when you upload something new. (LinkedIn, 2016) 

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Topics: Digital Marketing

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